Pantanal Linhas Aéreas S.A. was a regional

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and incorporated by

TAM Linhas Aéreas LATAM Airlines Brasil, formerly TAM Linhas Aéreas, is the Brazilian brand of LATAM Airlines Group operating international and domestic flights from hubs in Brasília, Fortaleza, and São Paulo. According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of ...

in 2013. It served destinations mainly in the southeast region of Brazil from its bases at

Congonhas Congonhas (Congonhas do Campo until 1948) is a historical Brazilian city located in the state of Minas Gerais. It is situated south from Belo Horizonte, the capital of state of Minas Gerais, by the highway BR-040. As of 2020, the city had a popu ...

and

Guarulhos Guarulhos () is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality. It is the second most populous city in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, the List of largest cities in Brazil, 13th most populous city in ...

airports in São Paulo.

History

The origins of Pantanal Linhas Aéreas are in Pantanal Taxi Aéreo, an air taxi company created in 1989 in

Campo Grande Campo Grande (, ) is a city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, central and western Regions of Brazil, region of Brazil, Capital city, capital of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Historically a Fortification, stronghold of Separatism, separatists ...

Mato Grosso do Sul Mato Grosso do Sul ( ) is one of Federative units of Brazil, Brazil's 27 federal units, located in the southern part of the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region, bordering five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso (to the north), Goiás and ...

. This company, operating regular charter flights, provided convenient connections of cities in the Central-West Region of Brazil with flights of

, which also provided two of the three

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max Holste; it had been designed in ...

of the fleet. In fact, as TAM Linhas Aéreas grew and dropped services to smaller cities, Pantanal became a viable solution for connectivity. In 1990 the Brazilian Government partially deregulated the market and changed its airline concession policies, allowing the creation of new airlines. At this point Marcos Sampaio Ferreira decided to transform his air taxi company into a regular airline with operations independent from those of TAM Linhas Aéreas. The leased Bandeirantes were returned to TAM and in 1992 the first Embraer EMB 120 Brasília was received. With new aircraft and a new logo identity, depicting a

Jabiru The jabiru ( or ; ''Jabiru mycteria'') is a large stork found in the Americas from Mexico to Argentina, except west of the Andes. It sometimes wanders into the United States, usually in Texas, but has also been reported in Mississippi, Oklahoma ...

locally known as tuiuiú, regular flights started on April 12, 1993. It became the first Brazilian airline to introduce the

ATR 42 The ATR 42 is a regional airliner produced by Franco-Italian manufacturer ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR, with final assembly in Toulouse, France. On 4 November 1981, the aircraft was launched with ATR, as a joint venture between French Aér ...

aircraft in December 1993. In 1995 it won a government concession for transportation of

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...

employees and cargo through the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

region. With growing services, in 1996 Pantanal transferred its maintenance base from

to Curitiba-Bacacheri, which at the time became its hub. The same year, in partnership with Total and Interbrasil STAR Pantanal created the shuttle service between Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont and Belo Horizonte-Pampulha. The year ended with 18 destinations being served. One of the consequences of the fast growth of Pantanal was the change of its logo which, starting in 1997 depicted two arrows and not anymore a Jabiru. The intention was to leave behind the idea of a purely regional carrier. The same year also brought a big blow to the operations of Pantanal: the

National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil The National Civil Aviation Agency (, ANAC), is the Brazilian civil aviation authority, created in 2005. It is headquartered in the Edifício Parque Cidade Corporate in Brasília. A part of the Brazilian Secretariat of Civil Aviation, the agency ...

closed Curitiba-Bacacheri Airport for regular flights. Pantanal had developed a hub and established its maintenance base at this facility. Having no other choice, Pantanal transferred its base to São Paulo-Congonhas Airport and changed its market focus to the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

regions of Brazil, eliminating destinations and increasing frequencies among the remaining. Since

ceased to operate purely regional flights, in December 1998 Pantanal and TAM established feeding and code-share agreements for the second time. Services were concentrated at São Paulo-Congonhas Airport using the airline's precious slots at this airport. Those agreements were suspended in 2001 due to the death of Rolim Amaro, president of TAM and a friend of the president of Pantanal, and to the economic crisis that followed thereafter. Pantanal never regained economic stability and the crisis reached the limit in the beginning of 2009 when Pantanal applied for judicial reorganization to the Commercial Bankruptcy and Reorganization Court in São Paulo. Pantanal continued to provide services despite its financial troubles. Redemption came once again via TAM Linhas Aéreas: taking into account their long-lasting partnership and particularly the slots of Pantanal at São Paulo-Congonhas airport, on December 21, 2009, TAM Linhas Aéreas purchased Pantanal Linhas Aéreas. At that time, TAM decided to maintain Pantanal as a separate airline within the TAM Group integrated into its network. The base of the ATR 42 aircraft was changed to São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport and Pantanal slots at Congonhas were used by "TAM flights operated by Pantanal." In 2010 IATA changed the designator of Pantanal Linhas Aéreas from P8 to GP. According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) in August 2010 Pantanal had 0.20% of the domestic

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

in terms of passengers per kilometre flown. Starting September 2010, Pantanal ceased to appear independently on statistics and its data were integrated into the ones of TAM Group, which then comprised TAM Linhas Aéreas and Pantanal Linhas Aéreas. Starting August 1, 2011, all Pantanal flights were operated on behalf of TAM using equipment leased from TAM and finally, on March 26, 2013, Brazilian authorities approved the incorporation of all Pantanal assets by TAM and Pantanal ceased to exist. The incorporation process was finalized on August 23, 2013.

Destinations

Pantanal Linhas Aéreas operated scheduled services to the following destinations: * Araçatuba – Dario Guarita Airport *

Araraquara Araraquara ( ) is a city in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 250,314 (2022 est.) in an area of . It is also known as "the abode of the sun," because of its impressive sunset and because of its hot atmospher ...

–

Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport was a Brazilian airport built to handle the operations with the rigid airships '' Graf Zeppelin'' and '' Hindenburg''. The airport was named after Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685–1724), a Portuguese pries ...

* Assis – Marcelo Pires Halzhausen Airport * Barretos – Chafei Amsei Airport *

Bauru Bauru () is a Brazilian municipality located in the interior of São Paulo state, recognized as the most populous city in the Central-West region of São Paulo. It is one of the 19 municipalities comprising the Bauru Immediate Geographic Region ...

** Bauru Airport ** Moussa Nakhl Tobias Airport (Bauru/Arealva) *

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

** Pampulha/Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport ** Pres. Tancredo Neves International Airport (Confins) *

Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...

– Pres. Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport *

Caldas Novas Caldas Novas () is a Brazilian municipality in the state of Goiás. It is the largest hydro-thermal resort in the world. Location Caldas Novas is located 170 km south of state capital, Goiânia. It belongs to the Meia Ponte Microregion, ...

– Nélson Ribeiro Guimarães Airport *

Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo (state), São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's popul ...

– Viracopos International Airport *

–

Campo Grande International Airport Campo Grande International Airport , sometimes also informally referred to as Antônio João Airport, after the neighborhood where it is located, is the airport serving Campo Grande, Brazil. It is operated by AENA. Some of its facilities are sh ...

Caravelas Caravelas is a city of about 20,000 inhabitants in southern Bahia, Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-lar ...

– Caravelas Airport * Castilho – Urubupungá/Ernesto Pochler Airport *

Caxias do Sul Caxias do Sul () is a city in Rio Grande do Sul, Southern Brazil, situated in the state's mountainous Serra Gaúcha region. It was established by Italian Brazilian, Italian immigrants on June 20, 1890. Today it is the second Largest cities in R ...

– Hugo Cantergiani Airport *

Corumbá Corumbá () is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, 425 km northwest of Campo Grande, the state's capital. It has a population of approximately 112,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly on agriculture, ani ...

– Corumbá International Airport * Criciúma/

Forquilhinha Forquilhinha is a municipality in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina. In 2020, it had a population of 27,211 inhabitants. It covers an area of 184,557 km2 at an altitude of 42 meters above sea lev ...

–

Diomício Freitas Airport Diomício Freitas/Forquilhinha Airport formerly SBCM, is the airport serving Criciúma, Brazil, located in the adjoining municipality of Forquilhinha. It is named after Diomício Manoel de Freitas (1911-1981), a local entrepreneur and politician. ...

Cuiabá Cuiabá () is the capital city and the largest city of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso. It is located near the geographical centre of South America and also forms the metropolitan area of Mato Grosso, along with the neighbouring town of Várz ...

– Mal. Rondon International Airport *

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Southern Brazil. The city's population was 1,773,718 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the larg ...

** Afonso Pena International Airport ** Bacacheri Airport *

Dourados Dourados is a city and municipality, situated in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Southwest of Campo Grande (the state's capital). It has a population of about 225,000 inhabitants, and its economy is based mainly in arable agriculture ( ...

– Francisco de Matos Pereira Airport *

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina, in the South Region, Brazil, South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as we ...

–

Hercílio Luz International Airport Florianópolis–Hercílio Luz International Airport , branded ''Floripa Airport'', is the airport serving Florianópolis, Brazil. It is named after Hercílio Pedro da Luz (1860–1924), three times governor of the state of Santa Catarina and s ...

Fortaleza Fortaleza ( ; ; ) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city—Fortaleza surpassed Salvador, Bahia, Salvador in 2022 census with a population of slightly over 2.4 mi ...

– Pinto Martins International Airport *

Foz do Iguaçu Foz do Iguaçu (; "Iguazu River mouth"), colloquially referred to as Foz, is the Brazilian city on the border of Iguaçu Falls. Foz in Portuguese language, Portuguese means the mouth or end of a river and Iguaçu in Guarani language, Guarani or Tup ...

– Cataratas International Airport *

Franca Franca is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located in the northeastern portion of the state, distant 401 km (249 mi) from the state capital São Paulo, and 676 km (420 mi) from Brasilia. It covers a total area of 60 ...

– Ten. Lund Presetto Airport *

Goiânia Goiânia ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian federative units of Brazil, state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West Region and the 10th-larges ...

– Santa Genoveva Airport *

Governador Valadares Governador Valadares is a Brazilian municipality in the countryside of Minas Gerais. In 2020, its population was 281,046 inhabitants, thus being the ninth most populated city in the state. It is an economical axis of the middle valley of the Doce ...

– Cel. Altino Machado de Oliveira Airport *

Ilhéus Ilhéus () is a major city located in the southern coastal region of Bahia, Brazil, 211 km south of Salvador, Brazil, Salvador, the state's capital. The city was founded in 1534 as Vila de São Jorge dos Ilhéus and is known as one of the mos ...

– Jorge Amado Airport * Ipatinga – Usiminas Airport * João Pessoa – Pres. Castro Pinto International Airport *

Juiz de Fora Juiz de Fora (; ), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2022 census the current population is 54 ...

– Francisco Álvares de Assis Airport (Serrinha) * Lins – Gov. Lucas Nogueira Garcez Airport *

Marília Marília () is a Brazilian municipality in the midwestern region of the state of São Paulo. Its distance from the state capital São Paulo is by highway, by railway and in a straight line. It is located at an altitude of 675 meters. The popul ...

– Frank Miloye Milenkowichi Airport *

Maringá Maringá () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, with 385,753 inhabitants in the city proper, and 76 ...

– Sílvio Name Júnior Regional Airport * Mucuri – Max Feffer Airport *

Paranaguá Paranaguá (Tupi language, Tupi, 'Great Round Sea') is a city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city. It is known for the Port of Paranaguá, which serves as both the sea link for Curitiba, ...

–

Santos Dumont Airport The Santos Dumont Airport is the second major airport serving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is named after the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, Alberto Santos Dumont (1873–1932). It is operated by Infraero. History Or ...

* Ponta Porã – Ponta Porã International Airport *

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

–

Salgado Filho International Airport Porto Alegre–Salgado Filho International Airport is the airport serving Porto Alegre and the region of Greater Porto Alegre, Brazil. Since October 12, 1951, it is named after the Senator and first Minister of the Brazilian Air Force Joaquim ...

Porto Seguro Porto Seguro (, Safe Harbor in English), is a city located in the far south of Bahia, Brazil. The city has an estimated population of 150,658 (2020), covers , and has a population density of 52.7 residents per square kilometer. The area that inc ...

– Porto Seguro Airport * Presidente Prudente – Presidente Prudente Airport *

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

– Guararapes/Gilberto Freyre International Airport *

Ribeirão Preto Ribeirão Preto (Portuguese pronunciation: Help:IPA/Portuguese, �ibejˈɾɐ̃w ˈpɾetu is a city and a metropolitan area located in the northeastern region of São Paulo (state), São Paulo state, Brazil. Ribeirão Preto is the eighth-la ...

– Leite Lopes Airport, Dr. Leite Lopes Airport *Rio de Janeiro **Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport, Galeão/Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport **Santos Dumont Airport *Rio Verde, Goiás, Rio Verde – Rio Verde Airport, Gal. Leite de Castro Airport *Rondonópolis – Rondonópolis Airport, Maestro Marinho Franco Airport *Salvador da Bahia – Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport, Dep. Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport *São José do Rio Preto – São José do Rio Preto Airport, Prof. Eribelto Manoel Reino Airport *

**Congonhas-São Paulo Airport, Congonhas Airport **São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport, Guarulhos/Gov. André Franco Montoro International Airport *Sorocaba – Sorocaba Airport, Bertram Luiz Leupolz Airport *Teresina – Teresina Airport, Sen. Petrônio Portella Airport *Uberaba – Uberaba Airport, Mário de Almeida Franco Airport *Uberlândia – Uberlândia Airport, Ten. Cel. Av. César Bombonato Airport *Varginha – Varginha Airport, Major-Brigadeiro Trompowsky Airport *Videira – Videira Airport, Ângelo Ponzoni Airport *Vilhena – Vilhena Airport, Brig. Camarão Airport

Fleet

Airline affinity program

Between 2009 and 2013 Pantanal was part of TAM Fidelidade, the affinity program of

References

External links